Someone Willing to Stay

Long Live

      "Mel, wait up."
     I stop before getting into my car, looking over my shoulder to see Mason jogging up to me.
"What's up?" I ask tiredly.
This whole day has been exhausting. I was up all night last night just wracking my brain for any way to get out of telling my mom about Adam and my punishments. I still can't think of anything.
Today is the day of my party, one day before my actually birthday. I would give anything to have never even gone to David's party. Then Mason never would have found out and my life wouldn't get ruined in less than twelve hours.
"You okay?" Masons asks as he approaches me.
I nod, "Just tired."
He doesn't believe me. He's questioned every sentence I've spoken for the last four days. He thinks I'm constantly lying to him to protect Adam. He's not wrong.
"Well wake up, I'm coming home with you." Mason says.
He strolls over to the passenger seat and gets in before I can say anything.
I'm too tired to object so I just get into the car with a sigh.
Mason looks over at me, "Oh come on. It's your party? Aren't you even a little excited?"
I want to understand how he can ask me that, act like nothing's wrong. Even he should understand the fear I'm feeling.
      Instead of venting out my frustrations with him I just force a small smile, "Sure. My moms homemade pizza is the best, you know that."
      "Oh for sure."
      The rest of the drive is silent, I hope he doesn't notice the way my whole body is shaking.
     Adam's car is in the driveway, as well as my mom's. Both of them being home right after school is unusual, but it happens once a year.
Mason follows close behind me as walk inside.
There's a chair in the middle of the living room that Adam is standing on as he hangs different colored streamers from the ceiling. My mom is in the kitchen blowing up balloons. There's a large happy birthday banner hanging in the wall.
It seems pretty childish, but I don't remark on the decorations. I'll do whatever it takes to distract mom from thinking about what tomorrow is.
She smiles when she sees me, "Melanie! And you brought, Mason!"
At the sound of Mason's name, Adam looks down and sends me a glare.
I avoid his eyes and send a smile to my mom, "We're just gonna head up to my room and hang out until the party."
She nods, "It's so good to see you two hanging out again!"
Mason follows me up the stairs.
"I can't wait until that jerk gets locked up." Mason's mumbles under his breath.
"Can we not talk about that?" I ask.
Mason looks at me with wide eyes but nods his head.
"That reminds me," I say putting my bag down and going into my closet, "Since I probably won't be going to school for a while, I wanted to show you this."
I feel around the top shelf in my closet until my fingers come in contact with a cool surface.
I take the DVD down and slip my finger into the whole in the center to hold it.
"What's that?"
"You'll see."
Mason hops onto my bed and leans back against the pillows, kicking his shoes off onto my floor.
I slip the disc into my DVD player and turn the tv on.
I make my way back to the bed and sit up straight next to Mason as a slow melody starts to play in the background.
Mason grins at me, recognizing the song.
We both watch as old grainy pictures show up on the screen. Mason and I posing in his pool, dressing up for Halloween. He laughs at the picture of us both sitting on Santa's lap at the mall.
"Who is Mason Foster?" My voice comes on over the music.
More pictures show, one of Mason asleep propped up against the wall and my head on his shoulders. We were so young and innocent back then.
"For a while, I wasn't thinking about his history. I was thinking about his reputation. About his friends. About how Mason Foster is, always has been, and always will be: the bad boy."
A picture of Mason sleeping at his desk pops on the screen and Mason snorts.
"I can tell you about what everyone thinks Mason Foster is. A boy who can handle his adult beverages," Mason rolls his eyes, "a boy who could so easily have every girl at this school he lays his eyes on. Or a boy who spends more time hurting people than he does caring for them."
I'm watching Mason as his eyes are entranced by the images on the screen.
"But I think I could more accurately tell you what Mason is. He's a family man."
Pictures of him helping his mom bake when we were younger, holding up a red foam finger at Angel's basketball games, and a picture of all us at Sunday at my house with spaghetti sauce all over his face.
"He's adventurous."
These pictures surprise him, they're of us getting tattoos at the mall, eating at the diner, and even some that I sneakily took while we were at the cliff.
"He's a friend."
Rob, David, and Mason all laughing in the parking lot.
"Some people say that our past defines us. And that may be true. But look at this Mason."
The chorus of the song starts playing,
Long live the walls we crashed through
All the kingdom lights shined just for me and you
I was screaming, "long live all the magic we made"
And bring on all the pretenders
I'm not afraid
Long live all the mountains we moved
I had the time of my life
Fighting dragons with you
I was screaming, "long live the look on your face"
And bring on all the pretenders
One day we will be remembered.
      "We look at this child and watch how he's grown. He's seen pain, and heartbreak, and loss."
      I look over at Mason. His expression is blank.
      "Some people say that our history defines us, but I think it can change us as well. Mason Foster isn't defined by his history, but he is who he is because of what he's seen, what he's been through. And he will be remembered."
      As the video comes to a close and the final notes of the song play, Mason looks over at me.
      I suddenly get nervous.
He hated it. Oh my god, you ruined everything.
      But he smiles, and I see a shine to his eyes, like they're tearing up.
      "It was awesome, Mel. I loved it." He gushes almost childlike.
      I smile, relieved, "I was sneaking pictures when we skipped school. I knew I could use them."
      "It was great." He tells me.
      We sit there smiling at each other before the door slams open and Adam looks at me, infuriated.
      "I thought I told you to keep the door open."
      I don't have any time to respond, before Mason jumps off of my bed, and he has Adam shoved into a wall.

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This song just seems to them perfectly in my opinion.